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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29121147">I Just Keep You Warm</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackleaders/pseuds/blackleaders'>blackleaders</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>(with loopholes), Canon Compliant, Fluff, Found Family, Friendship/Love, Multi, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, References to Poe Dameron: Freefall, Soft Epilogue</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 05:15:51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,159</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29121147</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackleaders/pseuds/blackleaders</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The battle is won and they can finally breathe, so Finn, Rey and Poe catch each other up on all the things left unsaid.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Poe Dameron/Finn/Rey</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>34</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>I Just Keep You Warm</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>[head in my hands] I wasn't even going to post this, this was just a messy thought I had, but then I finished Resistance Reborn and almost bawled my eyes out and so now we all get to suffer. I'm officially boarding the Jedistormpilot train several years late, but better late than never right?</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“It occurs to me,” says Poe as he leans his head back against the bench in front of the holochess table, “that we’ve still got a lot of secrets between us.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Rey looks up over the rim of her cup. Her bones feel like a different kind of heavy than they did when she first left Exegol, it’s a nice weight rather than an exhausted one. She fixes Poe with a piercing stare, “Is now really the time?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Finn tilts his head over to Poe like he’s sharing an inside joke, “It does look like there’s going to be a later now.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Poe drums his fingers on the table, a faint smile curving his lips, “Yeah there’s gonna be a later, but I wanna start tomorrow knowing the war’s over and that there’s no more secrets between us. Don’t you guys?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Finn mulls this over for a minute, eyes flicking to Rey. “I think we already know each other’s secrets, man.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Rey holds his stare, replies, “There’s a difference between guessing and being told. Secrets have power: to build or...to destroy.” She averts her gaze, staring at her hands. “I’m not sure if you knew mine you’d -”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Poe’s hand lands over hers and he threads his fingers with hers. “What we’d say, kid? We’re with you, no matter what.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Finn takes her other hand, squeezes it, his dark eyes shining. He takes a deep breath, “I’ll go first, how’s that?” When both Rey and Poe nod, Finn continues, “Being raised in the First Order, I always knew there was something different about me. I was always an outsider, I felt something brushing against my consciousness the whole time, an instinct, a </span>
  <em>
    <span>feeling. </span>
  </em>
  <span>That feeling led me right to you two,” he smiles softly at them both: the two people who became his family, the two people he can’t and doesn’t want to imagine his life without. “I - I talked to Leia about it a few times, but I -”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He’d told her about his feelings, the way he’d heard the screams when the Hosnian System was destroyed, how he’d felt cold long before he ever saw that merciless red laser streaking across the sky. He’d lied then, told Leia he didn’t want to explore his abilities. She had her hands full with training Rey already, and he didn’t want to add to her stress…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re Force Sensitive,” Rey realizes, and Finn nods. “That’s what you were going to tell me?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I was going to wait, but I just had this </span>
  <em>
    <span>feeling </span>
  </em>
  <span>that something horrible was going to happen.” Finn sniffles, thinking of the coldness that’d nearly knocked him to his knees when he felt Rey’s light disappear from the galaxy. “I had to tell you, before something…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Poe tilts his head with a laugh, “My best friends are both Jedi. How about that? Is it my turn to share?” When they both nod, he shifts in his seat. “Alright, well we’ll start with the fact that Zorii lied. I did </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>run spice.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I knew it,” Finn says, taking a sip of his drink. At Poe’s surprised expression, he shrugs, “Man, you can barely lie to save your life. That’s kind of necessary for a job like that.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Poe rolls his eyes. “Yeah, well...I </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> a member of the Kijimi Spice Runners. Zorii and her gang lied to me when we first met, said they were a crew of smugglers who needed a pilot. Nope,” he says, popping the p. “They were a crew for one of the scariest criminal syndicates of the time, and I got dragged into that mess. I stayed for about a year, ‘cos...well I thought I saw some good in Zorii and her crew.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What happened?” Rey asks. “Zorii mentioned you dug her a hole...or was that a lie too?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Poe grimaces, “I wasn’t kidding when I said I ran into some bad luck on Kijimi. Bad luck just happened to include Zorii and her mom trying to get me to help kill off all their competition. I wouldn’t do it, and I made sure they couldn’t either. Started a riot, punched a slave-trader, kind of pissed off Zeva, and she almost killed me for it. Zorii stepped in…” he clears his throat. “Zeva died and Zorii took her place, but the damage was done. The Spice Runners went from being one of the most feared syndicates in the galaxy to -” he spreads his hands. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Rey squints, “Hang on, I remember Chewie mentioning something about that. They pretty much fell in 19 ABY, right?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When Poe nods, Finn whips his head toward him. “Hang on, 19 ABY? You toppled a criminal syndicate at </span>
  <em>
    <span>sixteen</span>
  </em>
  <span>?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Poe shoots him a toothy grin, “Pretty impressive, right?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His grin only becomes brighter when Finn and Rey start laughing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then, Rey realizes it’s her turn and her smile fades quickly. Finn and Poe share a glance, and Finn leans forward, “You know...if you’re not comfortable, you don’t have to tell us but -”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“There’s nothing in this galaxy you could tell us that would change how we feel about you,” Poe picks up easily, conviction lacing each word. Rey glances between them, taking in their concern, their sympathetic expressions, but overall, the fondness and love in their eyes as they take her in.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She stretches her hands across the table and takes a deep breath, “I will. I’ll tell you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And she does; she tells them about her bond with Ben, how her memories of her parents kept coming back stronger with each vision of the Sith Throne, how she remembered her mother - her shining, bright light of a mother, and her cautious, kind father - hugging her goodbye to protect her from…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“From my grandfather,” Rey confesses quietly. “From Palpatine.” She looks up at them both, hazel eyes shining with fear of rejection, of their love shifting to hate on a dime. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Instead, she finds them both watching her carefully with soft eyes. “We know,” Poe tells her gently, reaching to pull her into him. She curls into him immediately, as Finn reaches to hug them both, effectively sandwiching her between them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How did you -”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“D-0 told us how Palpatine wanted you alive.” Finn explains, “With everything else you’d told us, it wasn’t too hard to connect the dots. We’re smart, you know.” He adds lightly, and it earns him the reaction he was hoping for because Rey lets out a low, wet laugh.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I know you are, I just -” she hesitates, “You don’t - I’m his granddaughter, how can you still -”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Remember what I said back on Ryloth?” Poe asks her. “It doesn’t matter where we came from. It matters what we choose to do now, and you chose the Light. You chose the Resistance, you chose </span>
  <em>
    <span>us</span>
  </em>
  <span>. And you kicked Palpatine’s ass doing so.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That,” Finn says, pressing a kiss into her hair, “And we love you. Nothing in this universe is gonna change that.” </span>
</p>
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